Our Darkest Hour
by cause.A.scene
Summary: It's coming.  The team becomes involved in a new case that seems to be building up to something horrific. But can they figure out what it is before it's too late?
1. It's Coming

**AN:**Hey guys! Yes, I'm back and I'm trying my hand at a mystery! I think I have a pretty good storyline set up that should be pretty awesome and I hope to have a little something for everyone, except for romance. Sorry. But there will be some action, some angst, some humor, and a lot of mystery! And right now, the story will focus on Nick and Greg, but the others will definitely be in there.

**Summary: **It's Coming. You ready for it? - The team becomes involved in Greg and Nick's case that seems to be leading up to something. But what? And can they stop it?

**Warning: **I don't think there is anything to warn you about…

**Random: **The song "Never Alone" by Barlow Girl is absolutely gorgeous.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any of it really. At least nothing that you recognize.

* * *

_**It's coming.**_

_**You ready for it?**_

Catherine stared at the words printed on the paper as a few hairs on the back of her neck stood up. It had been a small note tucked neatly into a envelope addressed to Grissom and herself with no return address. Part of her saw it as nothing more than a horror movie fear; its scary, but you know in the end, its just a movie. But another part of her felt a sense of foreboding that she just couldn't shake.

"What does it say," Grissom said from behind his own paperwork, breaking Catherine from her thoughts.

It was honestly a simple question, and an even simpler answer if she just read the short note out loud, but something was making it a difficult task. Her hesitation prompted Grissom to look up from his reports and cocked an eyebrow at her troubled expression.

"What is it," he asked, sitting up straighter in his chair.

Catherine looked at him, then back at the note before deciding that she was overreacting. She shrugged suddenly and chuckled.

"Nothing probably," she replied, tossing the paper on the layout room table. Grissom craned his neck slightly to see it, and she watched intently as he read it.

Grissom watched the paper for a good amount of time considering it was only six words. It was almost as if he expected it to do something, to explain itself maybe.

"It probably is nothing," he said finally, though he still had an odd look on his face. "There's no return address I'm sure."

Catherine shook her head. "It's probably just some sort of hoax."

Grissom nodded in agreement.

This would not be the first time a threatening letter came in that never followed through, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. It was some sort of urge people got, a lot like calling 911 when there's no emergency. He could never understand it himself, but people would always have the need to sound some alarms.

"Whoa," a voice erupted through the room. "I can just _feel _the intensity floating around in here, what's up," Greg asked with his signature grin as he took a seat at the table, looking back and forth between Grissom and Catherine.

"Nothing Greg," Grissom answered, sending Catherine a look that told her their previous conversation was over. "You've been coming in early."

The young CSI didn't seem to notice the sudden change in subject and simply smiled wider. "Yeah, I've been getting more sleep, you know? I'm constantly thanking Las Vegas for the sudden drop in tough cases," he said in a bubbly manner.

And it was true, everyone had been noticing a little more of the "Lab-rat Greg" making it's way into the new Crime Scene Investigator Greg, and they were all pleased with the change whether they admitted it or not. He seemed to have found a healthy middle, which allowed for an excellent CSI, but also allowed him to make everyone else laugh more often.

"Well that's good for you, Greg. Just never have any kids if you would like to keep that kind of lifestyle."

Greg smiled in response just as Warrick and Nick came around the corner and into the room, closely followed by Sara. They all took a seat and waited for Grissom to appoint them to their cases.

"Ok," Grissom said, clearing his throat and addressed Catherine and Warrick. "If I'm not mistaken, you two are still working on a case, correct?" Warrick nodded. "Which leaves…" he said as he searched through a small stack of papers. "Greg, you and Nick have a 419," he continued as he passed the sheet over to Greg. "And Sara, you're with me."

The all nodded and prepared to leave, but Grissom stopped Nick and Greg before they left. "The was only one witness, and she was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, but they couldn't get anything out of her at the scene."

"You get the girl," Nick told Greg. It was not that Nick didn't trust Greg with working a scene by himself, because he knew that the young man had become a very competent investigator, but he still couldn't help but see him as a goofy lab-rat. Besides, Nick had been haunted with horrifying nightmares all night and was really in no mood to deal with real people, as bad as that sounded. But he knew that if he talked to this woman, it would become much more personal than he wanted.

"Alrighty. I'll call you when I'm done," Greg responded as he pulled his keys out of his pocket and they parted ways.

* * *

When Nick arrived at the scene, he was greeted by a couple squad cars and the normal group of bystanders, anxious to see what all the "commotion" was about. Nick walked through them and under the caution tape with the same sense of importance he always got when he was allowed where no one else was. It was his own version of fame.

He walked into the apartment building, noting that it was not a cheap one, but more of a middle-class accommodation. He walked up to the door labeled 1101, then frowned at the small carving on the door. He didn't think much of it, and decided to enter the crime scene.

When he stepped over the threshold and into the living quarters, he knew right away that this was going to be a long and complex case.

And to think he had seen it all…

* * *

Greg leaned against the elevator railing, going over in his mind just how much he hated hospitals. He always had. And honestly, how could he not after spending most of his childhood in one? It's not like he was always sick or even injured, but his mother insisted on going at the least little thing.

The doors slid open with ease, revealing more white scenery that made Greg's stomach turn. Why did hospitals always have to be white?

He walked over to the front desk and was greeted by a rather cute young receptionist who smiled sweetly at him. He read her name tag and saw that her name was Darcy.

"I'm looking for a Marley Knight," Greg said with his famous grin. "I need to ask her a few questions."

Darcy looked away from Greg and down to her computer and began to click away.

"She's in room 228 with Dr. Mason," Darcy answered, smiling beautifully to Greg.

Had he not been on a case, he would have stayed with this Darcy for a little longer and try his luck with her. But he _was _on a case and by the looks of it, he probably wouldn't have much luck anyway.

"Thank you, Darcy," he replied, earning a small giggle from the young woman. Maybe he _did _have a chance.

He walked through the glass hallway, immediately feeling sympathy for the patients, knowing that most of them probably felt like they were on display for everyone to see. Finally, he reached room number 228 and knocked on the glass to announce his presence.

An older gentleman in a white lab coat turned around and looked questioningly at the newcomer.

"I'm Greg Sanders with the Las Vegas Crime Lab. I was wondering if I could ask Ms. Knight a few questions and collect any evidence she had on her."

Dr. Mason nodded then walked over to Greg who was still out in the hallway.

"I'll have a nurse bring her personal items in a moment," he said in a normal voice, but then ushered Greg out into the hall a little more. "I will allow you to question her, but she seems to be in quite a bit of distress. She hasn't really said anything, but you can try."

Greg nodded knowingly. He knew that the woman must have seen some pretty horrific things and it wouldn't be unnatural for her to be in shock and not want to talk about it. But it was his job to at least try.

Dr. Mason inclined his head slightly as a farewell, then left Greg standing in the hallway. Greg took a deep breath, not having much experience with traumatized patients, then entered the room.

Marley Knight was sitting on her bed, legs dangling limply off the side. The middle-aged woman didn't so much as look up as Greg entered her room, she just stared off into the distance, though Greg could tell she was not looking at anything particular.

"Hello ma'am. I'm Greg Sanders with the Las Vegas Crime Lab and I need to ask some questions about Anthony Knight." At the mention of Anthony Knight, the woman's eyes flickered but never broke gaze with the ground.

Greg was a little taken aback as she still did not look at him.

"Ma'am," he continued, stepping a little closer to her. "Ma'am, I would really appreciate your cooperation…"

She then mumbled something that Greg couldn't quite make out, never taking her eyes off the floor.

"I'm sorry…" he said with uncertainty. "I didn't catch that."

When she finally looked at him, Greg kind of wished she wouldn't. Her eyes were filled with so many different emotions that he couldn't seem to sort out. But what startled him most was the crazy look that her eyes housed.

She stood up now, facing Greg and looked positively wild. Her frizzy hair seemed to double the size of her head and the hospital gown wasn't helping her image too much either. But it was the way her hands dangled oddly at her side, her fists only partly-clenched that told him something was wrong.

"It's coming," she said loudly this time. Her eyes were now spilling over with tears, though she was not crying. Greg felt a chill run up his spine, but kept it together as best he could.

"What's coming?" He replied clearly, keeping his eyes fixed on the woman.

"It's coming," she repeated, taking a step closer to Greg.

"Ma'am, _what is coming,_" Greg reiterated.

He was now sure that the woman was having some psychotic attack, or maybe she was just this way normally, but either way she was making him feel very uncomfortable.

She suddenly plunged at him, latching onto his shoulders and he could feel her fingernails digging into his skin, but he was too startled to do anything about it.

"It's coming, it's coming…" she said over and over, shaking Greg's shoulders. Greg had no idea how to react; he just stood there and stared in disbelief.

"It's coming," she said again. "You must stop it. You must. It's coming…"

"Ms. Knight! Marley!" Greg shouted, trying to get her to stop her crazed rant. "What is _it?_"

Just then, he heard a small cry from outside the door and felt arms prying him away from Marley Knight. He watched as the nurse and doctor struggled with the patient until they were forced to inject her with a sedative.

He really didn't know what to make of what he had just witnessed. What was coming, and what was he going to have to stop?

* * *

**AN: **So what did you guys think? It was just the beginning to set the story up so it should be getting ten times better as things develop. Actually, the next chapter should be really good because I will explain what Nick saw in the apartment and then things will begin to unfold.. I'm pretty excited. So, please stick with me and review.. They make me want to update. 


	2. Blue's Clues

**AN: **Hey guys! Ok, so I'm beginning to enjoy this baby and I hope that you guys are too. Thanks so much for the reviews, they make me feel good. Because like I said, I've only ever written angst stories (which means that you can expect some thrown in here somewhere) so this whole mystery thing is new to me. And there's so much thinking and planning that goes into it…

**Warning: **This is a **thinking **fic. I mean, you guys are going to be getting the clues as the CSI's do and you will be putting them together just like they do. I will not lie to you, there are all kinds of things that will be thrown in that will come up later in the story, and you should see an example of that in this chapter. So.. You've been warned.

Also, there are a few curse words in here, nothing bad though.

**Random: **I stepped on a nail and it went like.. An inch into my heal and that sucker HURTS!! I really just suggest you all refrain from stepping on nails if at all possible...

* * *

Nick stared in awe at the apartment. He had seen many things in his days, but nothing quite like this. He couldn't say that it won any awards in his mind, but it was definitely different than anything he had ever seen, and he had only seen the living room so far.

Right when he stepped over the threshold, he was greeted by the overwhelming scent of paint and there was no question why: The whole room, everything from the walls to the furniture, was covered in dripping white paint. He looked around and saw SuperDave hovering over the a very noticeable figure in the center of the room that stuck out like a sore thumb as it was covered in black paint. The combination of all white with one black figure let Nick know immediately that the colors in this room stood for something, but what was unclear to him.

David looked up when Nick entered and shook his head. "This is going to be fun," he said sarcastically. "I can't really tell you anything right now. Man, I've never seen anything like _this _before."

The young man stood up and prepared to move the body.

"Hey, you need to put on a mask," he said as they began to walk out of the door. "This stuff is strong."

Nick nodded as he began to look around again. Apart from everything being white and the large black puddle where the victim had been, the only other color was red, which was mixed in with the black, but was also sprayed along all of the walls and furniture. The way it was splattered made Nick sure that it was flung on there.

There was only one wall that was not covered in wet paint, but was white none-the-less, and right in the center was a mural of a puzzle piece. It was a black puzzle piece that had red writing in the center of it.

Nick walked up closer to the wall to read what it said.

**It's coming.**

**It's delightfully unfair.**

Nick frowned at the words. What in the world could they mean? But he didn't have a lot of time to think about it as his pants began to vibrate. He reached in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.

"Stokes."

"Aw, Nick… that lady was a freak…," Nick could hear that Greg was shaken and he could imagine that the lady was just as weird as her house was.

"I can see that," Nick replied, though Greg didn't seem to hear him and continued with his own story.

"I didn't get anything out of her, only that something was coming…" Nick's heart skipped a beat. He didn't know why this startled him so much because those words _were _written on the woman's wall in what appeared to be blood, but it still freaked him out. "She wouldn't say what though. Man, this is going to be a weird case, isn't it?"

"You have no idea."

"What does that mean?" Greg wondered from his own side of the phone. He was already spooked by his meeting with Marley Knight and now Nick was acting like the actual crime scene was in itself bad.

"Just get over here, G," Nick replied in an ominous tone before closing his cell phone shut.

Greg sighed as he approached the crime scene and saw all of the bystanders. He noticed that Dave's van was gone, so the body was no longer at the scene, which meant that whatever was freaking Nick was in the apartment.

He took a deep breath and began to make his way through the large crowd and stepping under the caution tape.

"Sanders," he heard the familiar voice of Jim Brass call out.

Greg turned around to face him and noticed that he was holding a small white mask and handed it over to Greg.

"What's this for?"

"You'll know when you get there. Room 1101," Brass answered. Greg turned away from him annoyed. Why couldn't anyone just _tell _him what was going on instead of saying suspenseful catch phrases.

His reaction to the room was much like Nick's in that first came shock. It was like nothing he had seen before, not that he had been around long enough to see a whole bunch, but surely this wasn't normal.

"Ah, Greg. So what do you think?" Nick asked as he looked around the room as though it were a large canvas board.

Greg thought about it for a second before shaking his head in frustration. "God, I have no idea…" he said airily as he walked through the room, pausing at the mural on the wall.

"Dude. That's what Marley Knight kept saying; _It's coming. _What the hell is _it? _Please tell me that there's something here that tells us what _it _is."

Nick shook his head. "All I know is _it's _unfair."

Greg nodded and continued to stare at the painting. "The puzzle piece.. I'm guessing that he wants us to put the puzzle together…"

"Or she. Didn't you say that the witness said something about 'it coming'"

"Yeah, she did. But I'm not really sure she did this. I guess maybe she could have…"

Nick looked at the mural, then around the room. It was just so odd, all of it was. Just then, he felt his pants vibrate again, and reached for his phone.

"Stokes."

"_Hey Nick, its Dave. I just thought you may like to know that he found a puzzle piece on Anthony Knight… I don't know what that means, but I know there was one in the apartment so…"_

Nick stood in one place for a moment before thanking Dave for the update and hanging up. So it _was _a puzzle.

"Wait," he exclaimed to himself. Without warning he rushed outside so he could see the outside of the front door and that carving he had noticed on it earlier. Greg followed anxiously behind him and came to a halt by the door.

"What?" He asked, trying to crane his neck to see what Nick was staring at.

Nick smiled as he saw the now unmistakable carving of a small puzzle piece right beside the numbers 1101.

"He's giving us clues…" Nick said under his breath. He couldn't help but feel amazed at the cleverness of it all.

"Wait, you mean like… _Blue's Clues?"_

Nick spun around to face Greg, looking at him as though he was crazy. "What the hell is _Blue's Clues?_"

Greg looked appalled. "_Blue's Clues! _It's a little show for kids and the dog will go around and put paw prints on different things and then Steve has to put them all together and see what Blue wants… Well, I think this new guy took over but I don't really like.."

"Greg," Nick interrupted before he lost all respect for the guy. "Yeah.. It sounds exactly like… _Blue's Clues._"

"Well, then we need our handy damn notebook," Greg said happily as he pulled up his camera from around his neck. "Or camera…"

Nick stared in disbelief at the younger CSI and how excited he had now become. He followed Greg back inside, and watched as he began to snap pictures of the room and all that was in it, but when he came to the mural, he paused.

"So," he began, staring intently at the wall. "If this _is _like _Blue's Clues, _then what is the clue here…"

"Well, I would have to say the abundance of white…" Nick replied sarcastically.

"Well yeah, I figured that myself, Sherlock. What I meant was there are a couple different things here. I mean, yeah, you got the white, but there's probably a significance to the fact that the puzzle piece is black and the writing is red. And then there's the writing itself. _It's so unfair…_" Greg tailed off as he began snapping photos of the wall.

Nick watched and knew Greg had a point. After a few pictures, Greg went back outside to get photos of the door.

"And I'm guessing," he started as Nick joined him on the sidewalk. "That the clue here is the number 1101."

"Or it could be the color of door seeing as how color has been the predominant trait so far," Nick added, thinking logically at what he had already noticed about this case.

Greg nodded in agreement as he observed the dark green door, but couldn't think of why dark green would be significant, but he couldn't rule anything out as of yet. But, with the position of the puzzle piece right beside the number, he figured that the clue was in fact the number 1101.

"Were there any other puzzle pieces," Greg asked, still gazing at the door.

"Yeah, Dave just called and said that the vic had a puzzle piece on him as well."

Greg looked off into the distance at this comment, trying to figure out how Anthony Knight fit into all of this. He decided that they would not figure out the puzzle right now, and moved on with the investigation.

"Right, well I take it you've got all the samples you can get from here…" Greg started.

"Yeah. I got samples from the paint and dusted for fingerprints wherever one could possibly be, but I got nothing. It looks like this is going to be one of those cases."

And they could both feel it; this ominous feeling that something really was coming and that this case would be one of the few that exceeded most criminal's capabilities. One that would have twists and most importantly, one of those cases that would eventually be fit for a movie.

And as exciting as those cases could be in comparison to dead bodies and cheating wives, all CSI's feared them deep down, knowing that they were up against some sort of twisted genius.

"So, we have a mural, a dead guy, and a door," Greg stated slowly. "This isn't much of a puzzle."

"That's because there's more to it," Nick replied simply, stating what both of them were fearing. More to the puzzle would mean more weird crime scenes.

Greg sighed. "Well, let the games begin."

* * *

**AN: **I'm sorry about the length, but it should be getting longer. This chapter turned out to be only a step of from the opening, so I was still setting things up.. so bare with me.I do think this one was a little better than the last one in terms of information goes, but they will be continuously getting better as the case goes along. At least, that's the plan. Please review if you can! 


	3. Puzzles

**AN: **Well, the **four **review I did get on that last chapter were absolutely amazing and meaningful, and I can tell you right now that they are the only reason I'm updating tonight and not a couple days from now. More on this at the end.

**Special Thanks: **ValkyrieMissile, Tanquay18, Freakygirlhere, and kstrom. They are the ones to thank for this update. Don't get me wrong, it would have probably come eventually, but it wouldn't have come tonight...

**Random: **I saw Fantastic Four tonight. It was ok, but I love Chris Evens and… Ioan Grufford I think it is. They were wonderful and quite the lookers. Jessica Alba however did not look her best. I think it was because they completely changed her looks. I mean, she has dark hair, eyes, and complection, but they changed that completely so… it looked weird.

It's coming… the next chapter!

* * *

"Did you get anything," Nick asked as he rounded the corner to see Greg sitting at a computer next to Archie. 

"No," Greg answered forlornly. "If he bought that much paint at once within the last six months, he didn't do it in Vegas. I'm going to broaden the search I guess. Did you get anything from your samples."

Nick felt more helpless now that Greg's search was bringing up nothing and he knew his own had done no good either. Whoever this person or people were, they were smart. And there was nothing quite as scary as an intelligent criminal.

"No," he replied, sitting next to Greg. "And I just checked and the apartment complex is getting cameras installed in about a month."

"How very helpful," Greg replied sarcastically.

They were now dangerously close to the point that all investigators fear: no leads, nothing to go on. It was probably best described as writer's block; knowing and wanting to continue, but just not being able to no matter how much you try. It was one of the most frustrating times any CSI could go through, especially knowing that the case could potentially escalate into a much more complex one.

"Well," Nick sighed, "I had one of the lab techs run some samples on the paint and see if there is some signature that could link us to a certain store, but that's really all I have to offer. Did you check up on Marley Knight?"

Greg emitted a small grunt. "Yeah, turns out she was mentally ill to begin with, and watching her cousin get slaughtered didn't seem to help either. I plan on going back to see if she remembers anything at all other than "it's coming," but don't get your hopes up."

Nick nodded, hearing the unmistakable sound of near defeat in his voice. There was only one other thing they needed to know right now, and just as he thought of it, his pager went off.

"It's Doc," he said out loud as he peered down at the small device. "He has the body ready."

They both stood up, thanking Archie for his help, and began their walk through the lab hallways. As they passed the DNA lab, they looked in and saw Gil Grissom bent over a folder, staring at it with a perplexed expression. Greg immediately felt the older man's pain, knowing that he and Nick were feeling the same way about their own case.

They were finally at Doc Robbins' domain now and could feel the eerie cool air and the smell of death. Of course, the smell of the rotting corpses was not nearly as bad as they could be once they were with Doc Robbins, but they still let off this foul stench that Nick was starting to believe no one could get used to.

When they entered, they saw the Doc himself standing over one of the many metal beds, an older gentleman sprawled out across it.

Nick and Greg walked up closer, finally able to actually see their victim for the first time. He didn't look a lot like most old men in that Greg didn't feel sorry for him. Not that old people made him sad or anything, but it was just the thought their lives, their time on the planet was slowing disappearing that made Greg feel sorry for them. However, this particular old man seemed tough, and unnecessarily mean.

"No real guesses here," Doc began, gazing down at the body. "Cause of death strangulation. The hyoid bone was broken, which of course means it was manual. The marks on the neck indicate something smooth, my guess is a cord."

Nick and Greg nodded, seeing exactly what the man was talking about.

"Other than that, there was nothing wrong with him. He was a very healthy individual for his age."

"What about the puzzle piece," Greg asked suddenly. "Where did you find that?"

"Well," Doc began. "I can not be one hundred percent sure, but I do know that it was somewhere on his head. You see, we found it as we were washing the body, at which point it had started to wash away as well. So the exact positioning is unknown, but it was in this general area," the Doc finished, pointing to the vic's face.

"Is that it," Nick inquired, getting that horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach again, seeing that they were only inches away from a blocked case.

Doc Robbins nodded. "Yeah, I'll go a little deeper to see if there is anything else I can give you, but I have a feeling there won't be. I'll call you if I find anything."

"Thanks, Doc."

And with that, the two CSI's were on their way out of the morgue and heading back towards the main part of the lab. Both of them were deep in thought, knowing that they were reaching the end.

"Nick, Greg…," they heard someone shout from behind them. They turned and saw Warrick coming towards them.

"Hey man," Nick greeted unenthusiastically.

Warrick could sense the feeling amongst the two and frowned. These two CSI's were usually the ones that kept everyone else's morale up, and yet now he was happier than either of them.

"What's going on," Warrick asked, wanting to see if there was anyway he could help. "You two aren't fighting, are you?"

"No," Nick replied before Greg could say anything. "We have a pretty messed up case right now that is about to hit rock bottom."

Warrick winced. "Oooh, that's not good. Have you talked to Grissom yet?"

"No, but he looked pretty wrapped up in his own case right now," Greg answered this time.

"Yeah, him and Sara both seem under a lot of pressure now that I think of it. Maybe both of you ended up with a bad case."

Nick and Greg nodded in agreement. They hadn't seen Sara yet, but had seen that Grissom was deep into his case, which meant Sara probably was as well.

"What about you," Nick spoke up. "How's your case going."

Warrick grinned. "Down to the finishing reports now. It was the housemaid."

"Sounds like a classic game of Clue," Greg replied with a silly grin. He used to love playing board games and missed them deeply now that he had no time for them.

Warrick laughed. "Yeah, you could say that."

"Right, well we should get going. We have some evidence we could go over a couple of times…" Nick added dejectedly. Everyone hated when they got to the point where they would have to look at the same evidence over and over, trying to find anything they missed, but they really didn't have much of a choice.

"Yeah, I'm going to pass on that," Greg said suddenly, waving to Warrick as he and Nick set off towards the layout room. "I'm gunna try talking to Marley Knight again."

Nick could tell that Greg was happy to have an excuse not to reanalyze all of the evidence and couldn't blame him for it.

"Yeah, ok. Call me if she has anything, anything at all," Nick replied almost desperately.

Greg nodded and they once again parted ways, Nick going to the layout room and Greg to the parking lot.

Greg got into his Denali and made his way down to Desert Palms, feeling a little upset that it was only a couple blocks away. While he didn't want to stay at the lab and look over all of the paint samples and search results again, he didn't really want to be around Marley Knight either. So, driving was a nice middle. Unfortunately, he was there in a matter of minutes.

Greg got out of his car once again and headed into the disgustingly white hospital. He got back into the elevator and headed up to Ms. Knight's floor, just as he had earlier that day.

When the doors opened, his eyes immediately found their way to Darcy the desk lady, and he suddenly felt much happier about coming back to the hospital.

"Hello there Darcy," he said smoothly as he leaned against the marble desk.

She smiled her famous smile. "What can I do for you, Mr. Sanders," she asked, reading the nametag on his CSI vest.

"Well, you can call me Greg first of all." She giggled at this statement. "And secondly, I was just wondering if Marley Knight was still in room 228."

Darcy grinned sheepishly and referred to her computer as she had done the last time. "Why, yes she is," Darcy answered in a flirty manner.

"Thank you," he replied as he turned to leave, but something was telling him to go back, and after a moment of hesitation, he did.

"So uh… what are your work hours," he asked Darcy rather steadily for him feeling so nervous. It wasn't that women made him feel sick, but it was always this first move that got him going because he knew she was flirting with him, but he didn't know if she would actually act on it. And this is usually where he went wrong.

"Mondays through Fridays, 7 AM to 9 PM" she answered with a smile to Greg's surprise. She _was _willing to give him a chance and he was more than willing to take it. "I hope to see you around sometime, Greg."

Despite his longing to stay here and chat with Darcy some more, he knew that he had to go complete his task, especially while Nick was back at the lab slaving away.

He left Darcy, smiling nicely as he left and headed back down the glass hallway until he reached room 228. Just before he went in, Dr. Mason called out to him.

"CSI Sanders, right," the doctor inquired. When Greg nodded, the man continued. "We do have some new information for you. It seems as though Ms. Knight has been a victim of rape for quite some time."Greg's heart did a flip at this new bit of information. He always hated the thought of women getting raped, and the fact that this woman was mentally ill only made it worse.

"We found some bruising that suggests it, and some comments she made also suggests it's been going on for a while now. I don't know if that means anything to your investigation, but if it helps catch the guy…"

Greg nodded, feeling a new sense of sympathy for the lady.

"Also, as I'm sure you know, she's not really a cooperator, so don't expect to much from her."

"Thanks Doc," Greg replied and watched as the man walked away. Greg took another deep breath and entered the room.

He found Marley now lying on her bed, staring down at her feet. This time however, she did look up when Greg entered and to his great relief, she didn't look as wild as she had when he last saw her.

He approached her slowly and was pleased to see a small smile creep on her face, though it didn't turn into much.

"Hello Ms. Knight, do you remember me?"

"I do, CSI Greg Sanders with the Las Vegas Crime Lab," she said in one breath, never blinking or breaking eye contact with Greg. He bit his lips, trying not to show that her behavior was making him uneasy.

"Well, it's nice to see you again, Ms. Knight…"

"Marley," she barked out suddenly. "Marley. My name is Marley." She didn't say it in a mean way, but she sounded almost excited about her name.

"Ok, Marley," Greg corrected himself with the best smile he could muster. "Well, I was wondering if you could tell me anything you remember from what happened earlier today at your apartment…"

She looked at him questioningly. "Something happened?"

Greg could see that she was completely serious. His eyes wandered helplessly around the room as this became more and more difficult.

"Yes… um… Anthony Knight.. Your cousin. He's dead."

"Really," she asked, and Greg couldn't detect quite where she was coming from. She wasn't surprised, or sad, or mad or any normal emotion one would have after watching someone die.

"Yes… Do you remember any of it? Anything at all?"

She looked away from him calmly and stared off with a very thoughtful look. Greg was pleased to see that she was being so cooperative, but he watched in horror as her face contorted and her previous peaceful demeanor quickly began to diminish.

Her face paled and as she stood up, Greg noticed her swaying. She walked over to him slowly and stared him in the eyes. Greg could see the fear and pain behind them and while a part of him was scared, the other part felt very sorry for her. It was almost as if she knew what was going on and what had happened, but she was trapped in a body that wouldn't allow her to speak.

"He's… I.. oh God…," she choked out, her body trembling.

"Marley… Marley! You have to calm down…" Greg pleaded with the woman. She latched onto him again, only this time, it wasn't in a threatening manner, it was more of her being broken-hearted. She started to crumble to the ground and Greg followed her down, being careful not to hurt her.

So here they were, Greg and this hysterical woman, kneeling on the linoleum hospital ground, Greg's arms wrapped around Marley as she sobbed and choked out different meaningless words and phrases.

Greg knew right then that he would probably never get anything out of her, and it wasn't upsetting him as bad as he thought it would. All he cared about at this moment in time was this poor woman who couldn't help herself.

She suddenly broke away from him and looked him dead in the eyes.

"You… must stop it! It's coming…," she sobbed, tears streaming down her face.

Greg thought about trying to ask her what _it _was again, trying to get anything more out of her, but something inside of him stopped those thoughts. Instead, he softly grabbed the back of her head and urged her back onto his shoulder.

"I know," he cooed softly. "I know."

The next few things happened all at once: he heard the ominous sound of someone retching, felt warm liquid running from his shoulder and down his front, and saw a couple nurses come in and attempt to get things under control.

After they had cleaned him up as best they could and had Marley asleep on her bed, Greg decided that he needed to go. He reached into his pocket as he passed Darcy, trying to stay out of site from the young woman, and dialed Nick's cell.

"_Stokes._"

"Nick, I got nothing… the poor woman is a mess, and I am too come to think of it. She threw up all over me, so I'm going to run home real fast and wash off, but I will be at the lab in twenty minutes or less," Greg said, knowing that going home on the clock was usually not allowed, but his apartment was so close and he really would only take about twenty minutes to get there and back.

"But there is something I want you to check," Greg continued, remembering what Dr. Mason had said. "Marley Knight showed signs of rape, and I have a feeling it was our vic who did it.. Just see if you can find anything…"

"_Alright man. Get back here soon. I'll call you if I find anything out."_

Greg closed his phone as he got in his car and drove a little over the speed limit to his apartment. It didn't take him long to strip off his clothes and wash off, and moments later, he was out and putting on some fresh clothing. But before he could finish, he heard something outside the bathroom door.

Without really thinking about it, he stepped out of the bathroom, wearing pants only, and right before he felt something being pressed over his face and a horribly hot, stabbing pain in his side, he could hear his cell phone ringing.

* * *

Back at the lab, Nick could feel his heart racing as he pulled up Anthony Knight's wrap sheet and saw that he had been convicted of attempted rape three times throughout his past, and Nick knew that Marley Knight had been one of his victims, maybe for years. 

He shook his head in disgust at the thought of that man taking advantage of a mentally ill person, let alone his own blood. To him, that was no better than raping a child as they were both unable to help themselves.

He went into the layout room where he found Grissom still looking intently over his own case, and pulled out his cell phone to update Greg. It only rang twice before someone picked up, but no one answered.

"Greg?" He didn't hear anyone answer again, but he did hear heavy, but hitched breathing. His heart began to race.

"Greg?" Nick said again, this time more urgently. Without really thinking about what he was doing, he rushed out into the parking lot and headed for Greg's apartment, all the while listening to the sound of someone breathing near o the other line.

Grissom had heard the tone of Nick's voice, but he figured that if it was something really serious, Nick would have said something before he left. And since he had no reason to worry, Grissom looked back down to the picture he had been staring at for a couple of hours now. The same picture that had his stomach in knots.

The picture was of a kitchen floor, and across it was a paper cut-out of a black puzzle piece, and inside of this puzzle piece, it read:

**It's coming.**

**The nation will mourn for weeks.**

* * *

**AN:** So I have a bit of a double cliffy going on here, huh? But I think they are pretty good cliffies and I really hope it will get me some more reviews. I know that sounds wrong, but they really do make me feel like what I'm doing is appreciated, because while I love writing, it is the response that keeps me going. Otherwise, I would probably write a little here and there, and end up finishing one chapter in like… a week. Right now, I'm pushing them out in a day. So please, review if you can. And thanks to everyone that has! I appreciate it soooo much. 


	4. Snakes and Knives

-1**AN: **I do not know what happened, but somehow the very last line of the last chapter got cut off, and it was pretty freaking important (figures) so this is what it was suppose to say:

**It's coming.**

**The nation will mourn for weeks.**

And that was, in case you don't remember, in relation to the picture Grissom was looking at on his case. So.. Sorry about that mistake and I plan to go back and fix it.

Thanks for the reviews. I love you guys.

**Warning: **This chapter is very fast and jumps around quite a bit, but this is where a good portion of the story is coming together, the next will be the actual deciphering of the clues. So try to hold on, because like I said, it's jumpy but I tried to make it flow as much as possible.

Also, this was half-beta'd (long story.) Very sorry about any mistakes. Just tell what they are and I'll change them.

Thanks guys, not go read!

* * *

**Earlier The Same Day - Grissom and Sara's Case**

Grissom rubbed his brow as he once again prepared to enter another crime scene. The good news about this one was that the victim wasn't dead, but was a well-known local news reporter, and that on top of "odd circumstances," as the report had called it, made the case a top priority.

When he arrived, there were already swarms of media and the usual on-lookers gathered just outside the vibrant yellow crime scene tape, craning their necks to get a look inside the house of Margaret Brown with the Channel 6 News Team.

As he passed through the crowd with Sara closely following behind, the reporters invaded them with multitudes of questions, all of which were ignored by the CSI's as they went under the tape where the media hounds couldn't go.

The home was a nice one, with large white columns reaching up to the second story roof and had beautiful arrangements of flowers and plants surrounding the building. When they stepped in, they were greeted with an equally beautiful sight of fantastic interior decorating.

"The woman was found here," one cop explained, as he pointed down at the large pool of blood just outside the entrance to the kitchen. "And she had a knife in her side, with a small note on it. We didn't touch it of course, and you can see the snake right there," the man continued, pointing down to a very dead snake with a puzzle piece on top of it lying close to where the pool of blood was. "The only other thing you need to see is right in here," he continued, and began walking into the kitchen.

Right away the puzzle cut-out caught their attention. And how could it not? It was huge and had wording on the inside, saying: _It's coming. The nation will mourn for weeks._

But this hit even harder for Grissom as he remembered the note he and Catherine had looked at just hours ago. Which meant his gut feeling had been right; That note had escalated into something much more.

After taking all the necessary steps - taking pictures, collecting evidence, dusting for prints - Grissom decided that he needed to get back to the lab, and instructed Sara to stay longer to investigate the scene more thoroughly. He wasn't sure why he didn't want to tell Sara about the note he had received earlier, but he didn't. Not just yet anyways.

So after he left, Sara continued to go through the house, doing all she could. They had both discovered early on that the scene had been cleaned very well. Whoever committed did a seemingly flawless job of cleaning up after themselves.

She spent a couple more hours there, every now and then turning back to the odd arrangement on the floor, wondering what it meant and why Grissom had seemed so spooked and intrigued by it. She would then go back to the snake on the ground, and would look at the puzzle piece on it. She knew right away that this was an odd case

She was getting close to a stopping point when someone came up behind her.

"Hey Sara," Catherine said distractedly, her eyes drawn to the puzzle piece cut-out with the same look on her face that Grissom had had. "I just finished my case. Grissom sent me just in case you needed help."

"I'm about done now, actually…" she began, but was cut off by her cell phone ringing.

"Sidle."

Catherine watched the younger woman as her face suddenly changed to a more horrified expression.

"Whoa, Nick! Slow down. Greg's been stabbed?"

* * *

Nick flew up the stairs to Greg's apartment. He had continuously been listening to the sound of heavy breathing on the other line and had come to the conclusion that someone was hurt, or in some kind of danger because every now and then, he would hear a soft moan of pain mixed in with the breaths. 

And half way to Greg's apartment, he had realized how bad a mistake he had made in not alerting anyone before he left. And while he could call someone right now, that would mean hanging up with Greg, or whoever he was listening to breathe and moan, and that thought scared him. If it was Greg, then he would like to know he was still breathing and not dying.

He made it up to Greg's room in what had to be record time, and began knocking furiously on the younger man's door.

"Greg," he shouted desperately. "Come on man, I'll knock it down, I swear to God…"

He waited only a moment or two before deciding that he was going to ram the door down, but then he figured he would try a more logical approach first, and reached for Greg's door handle, and was relieved when it twisted with ease, allowing Nick to enter with a little less pain to himself, and less damage to Greg's property.

He hustled into the room, and continued to call for his friend, but no one answered, so he walked in a little further. And it was then that he could see a limp arm lying just around the corner.

"Greg!"

He ran over to the unconscious man, and without further hesitation, he dialed 911 and demanded they rush over to the apartment. Once he was done, he took inventory of Greg's condition, while running his hand through Greg's still damp hair.

Right away Nick had been drawn to the rather large amount of blood pooled up around Greg, but sighed as he knew that it was not a fatal amount. And it also helped that the knife that had caused the wound was still in place and was protruding out of Greg's unclothed side. Other than that, Nick couldn't see anything else visibly wrong with him, which was a great relief. It seemed like Greg had taken a shower, and before he was completely dressed, walked out and was attacked.

Nick's eyes wandered back over to the knife, and realized that there was some kind of note wrapped around the handle of it. He could tell that there was something written on it, but he could not make out what it said. And while he yearned to read it, he knew that removing the knife, or even touching it could result in more damage to Greg, and the risk just wasn't worth it. And besides, Nick hadn't thought to bring any of his equipment with him, and didn't want to contaminate the evidence. So he decided to wait.

The ambulance still wasn't there yet, and Nick suddenly knew what else he needed to do. He picked up his phone again, and dialed the first person he thought to call.

"_Sidle."_

"Sara," Nick choked out suddenly. "I'm at Greg's apartment. He's been stabbed. It doesn't look too bad, but he's unconscious. I already called the ambulance…"

"_Whoa, Nick! Slow down," _Sara interrupted. "_Greg's been stabbed?_"

He could hear the fear and shock in her voice, but then he heard a more quiet "_what?_" in the background that sounded like Catherine.

"Yes, Sara… The medics should be hear at any moment. Just… just tell Griss and we've got a crime scene to process. The knife is still in him and it has a note on it…"

There was a small intake of air on the other line, and then silence.

"_Was… was it in his side," _she asked cautiously, which caused Nick to frown into the phone.

"Yeah…" he answered, just as cautiously. "Sara, what's going on…"

"_I, I don't know. Go to the hospital with him, and we'll be down there as soon as possible."_

Nick heard the click indicating that Sara had hung up, and now he was left in deep thought about how Sara had known about Greg's injury. The most likely reason was that Greg's case was connected with the one her and Grissom were on.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted, and thankfully so, as the EMT's came flying through the apartment door, and with Nick's guidance, found Greg and loaded him onto a back board.

Nick followed them out of the building and into the ambulance as they raced off to the hospital.

* * *

Grissom had been in the middle of getting his fourth cup of coffee when Sara called. 

"_Griss, Greg was stabbed. Nick's with him and said it didn't look too bad, but he's at the hospital,_" she stated in what seemed like one breath. "_I'm not completely sure, but it sounds like our case: Knife in the side with a note on the handle. I bet you they say the same thing._"

The truth was, they had not got around to seeing what the note on Margaret Brown's knife had said, which was going to be Grissom's next step, but it looked like things had changed now.

He had already put Catherine on the case once her and Warrick's case had closed, and now it looked like this whole thing was getting much bigger than he wanted, and so Warrick would be put on it as well.

After telling Sara that he would meet her at Greg's apartment, he hung up and located Warrick.

"Warrick, I need you at the hospital now," he said grimly. Before Warrick could protest, Grissom continued. "You're on this case now. A local news reporter, and now Greg, were found stabbed in the side with a note on the knife. We haven't found out what either of them says yet. Nick is down there now, join him and tell me what both notes say, got it?"

Warrick stood in awe at all of this new information. His own case had been fairly simple, but had also took quite some time. And he was tired. But, he knew that Catherine had already been added, which meant that it was a big case. And now Greg had become a victim.

Without further hesitation, Warrick nodded and followed Grissom to the parking lot, where they both went in their own directions.

* * *

It wasn't until they were almost at the hospital did Greg wake up. He seemed completely lucid and coherent, but he didn't seem at all shocked or scared. Nick had held his hand as Greg stared up at him and smiled in a very reassuring way. 

As the ambulance stopped and Greg was taken away, Nick stood back and wandered what had been going on through Greg's head that made him so calm.

And now, about fifteen minutes later, Nick sat in the OR waiting room, doing just that: waiting. Just then, he saw the tall black man come around the corner, and smiled tiredly to greet his co-worked and friend.

"Hey man, you heard anything yet," Warrick asked, standing in front of Nick.

"No, not yet. But a nurse should be bringing out the note on the knife soon, so maybe we can squeeze some info out then."

Warrick nodded silently. "Good. I'm actually here to get another note from a… Margaret Brown?"

"The news anchor? She's dead?"

"No, I don't think so. In fact, she apparently was in the same condition as Greg."

So the cases were connected.

"Well, you should go get that one, and I'll wait here for Greg's," Nick suggested. Warrick agreed with him and left to find Margaret Brown.

Moments later, a cute nurse came down the hallway, holding a small plastic bag with the letter in it. She looked at Nick, who stood up, and began to speak.

"You're the CSI here for Gregory Sanders, right?"

"Yeah, how is he?"

The nurse smiled, apparently aware that Nick was going to try to get answers out of her. "He's going to be fine," she answered sweetly. "We had another case like this come in today, the news anchor, and whoever is doing this apparently has no intention of killing anyone. The positioning of the knife wound is very strategic in that as long as the victim is found relatively soon, they are in no immediate danger."

Nick let out a sigh of relief. He had figured that it wasn't too bad, but now he had an official word.

"Do you know when we can see him?" He asked, as she handed the bag over to him.

"I can't say for sure. But the doctor should be out to give you an update pretty soon. He'll have a lot more information that I do."

Nick nodded and thanked the kind nurse. It wasn't until she was walking away did he decide to look at the contents of the bag.

He was aware that Warrick had come up behind him. "Nick, my note says _it's coming. The nation will mourn for weeks. _And it has a little puzzle piece on it…"

But Nick didn't even hear what the man had said because his body had froze up as he read the note that had been on Greg.

"Nick, what is it," Warrick asked, seeing the horrified look in his friend's eyes.

Nick lowered the bag, and stared starry-eyed out into the distance.

"It's all connected. It's all one big puzzle," Nick whispered under his breath. He then turned to Warrick, and began to speak in a rush. "Warrick… all of our cases… all of them. They're connected. Greg, that Brown lady, Anthony Knight.. They're all apart of one big puzzle.."

Warrick stared in disbelief as Nick rambled out all of this different stuff.

"Nick.. What are you talking about? Who's Anthony Knight?"

"It's my case. Well, Greg's too. We got another note, only ours was a mural of a puzzle piece on a wall. And now these two," he continued, looking down at the two bags.

"Wait, so three different attacks, and they are all connected, and all have puzzle pieces?"

"Yeah…," Nick replied, still gazing out into nothing. "We have to tell everyone. We have to put the puzzle together… It's coming.." Nick murmured as he pulled out his phone and called Grissom.

He took one last look at his bag, and read the words that had been attached to Greg:

**It's coming.**

**It will hit close to home.**

* * *

**AN: **OK guys, you'll be glad to know that all of the clues are now there, and for your own benefit, I will list them now: 

**Anthony Knight: Retired plumber (I don't think I ever said that yet, but he is.)**

- Dark green door, and/or the number 1101

- The color white

- Anthony Knight himself

- The phrase: It's coming. It's delightfully unfair.

**Greg: CSI**

- The phrase: It's coming. It will hit close to home.

- Possibly the knife.

**Margaret Brown: Local News Anchor**

- The phrase: It's coming. The Nation will mourn for weeks.

- A snake

- Possibly the knife

**Things to keep in mind:**

- Anthony Knight was the only one that was killed.

- Both Greg and Margaret were stabbed and left with a note on the knife handle, but only Margaret got a much larger display of the puzzle piece and message (cut-out on kitchen floor)

I think I got everything there, and just so you know, when I say "possibly the knife" all that means is that the clue could go either way and by telling you yes or no, it will give too much away. But I hope that helped you guys out some.

Some of them you can piece together yourselves with the information you already have, while a couple of them will be discovered in the next chapter. And yes, the next one will be where we figure everything out.

Again, sorry for how fast this one was, but it was necessary unless you wanted a 9000 word chapter, and I don't, so we went for this. The next one will be loads better.

Cheers!


	5. Coming Together

**AN: **I could tell you all some excuses, but I don't see the point. I have my reasons for taking so long to post, the main reason being real life, and I don't plan on taking that long anymore. I already have the next one written so.. We're good.

And, I'm afriad this will be a little confusing.. I think I could hve thought this out a little more, so I've tried and I hope I did good.. either way, here it is.

Read and review if you can.

* * *

"Ok, so let me get this straight," Grissom sighed, as he rubbed his temples with one hand, and held the phone against his ear with the other. "We have Greg, Margaret Brown, and now an Anthony Knight, all a part of the same case?" 

"_Yeah, Griss," _Nick answered from the hospital waiting room. "_Look, he's giving us clues. I don't know what all's going on with the Brown case, but I know we have at least three different clues with the Knight case, which means that if something really is coming, we need to put all the pieces together and find out what the hell it is…_"

"Yeah… yeah you're right," Grissom sighed again, now gaining the attention of both Catherine and Sara. They were all still at Greg's apartment, getting all the evidence they could.

"What about Greg," Grissom continued. "Any word yet?"

"_No official word. He's still in surgery, but one of the nurses came out and said that he should be fine and that whoever did this to him and Margaret Brown had no intentions of killing them…"_

"But Anthony Knight _did_ die…" Grissom pressed on, trying to piece together as much as he could. He was still feeling shocked at the fact that the note he and Catherine had received was turning into all of this.

"_Yeah, from strangulation, so it was definitely on purpose. The only reason I can think of right now is that Anthony had a pretty good sized wrap sheet, whereas Greg and Margaret Brown are probably innocent._"

"Which would mean he's only trying to make points… Grissom replied, secretly proud the Nick had been putting all of this together.

"Ok, we all need to get together and try to end this thing," Grissom continued, taking charge while addressing both Nick and the two women still listening in on his conversation. "Catherine and Sara will finish up Greg's apartment, I'll meet you and Warrick at the hospital and we'll take a look at those notes and talk to Margaret Brown if she's able to…"

"_And Marley Knight,_" Nick interrupted, then explained when he realized Grissom was not completely aware of whom he was talking about. _"She's Anthony Knight's mentally ill cousin. Greg's been trying to get something out of her, but hasn't been able too. We could try once more…"_

"Yeah, ok. Hopefully once that's done we will have an update on Greg, and then we all meet back at the lab and finish the puzzle._"_

Grissom closed his phone and looked at the two women.

"Did you guys get all of that?"

"So, there's three different cases," Catherine inquired, looking tiredly at Grissom, who nodded.

"What about Greg," Sara asked this time, knowing that Grissom had gotten some info on the young CSI.

"Apparently he'll be fine, but we'll know more later," Grissom answered in a light tone as he spoke about one of their own. "As I said, you guys stay here and finish up, I'm going to run over to the hospital, and then we will all meet up at the lab. If you get back to the lab before us, pull up Margaret Brown, Greg, and Anthony Knight's case. We've been given clues on all of them, so we put them together."

Catherine and Sara nodded, then watched as Grissom left.

Sara knew right away that there was a good chance that they wouldn't be able to find anything after having processed Margaret Brown's home, but they had to try anyway.

So they did what they could, every now and then stopping and looking precariously at the small pool of blood where Greg had been found. Deep down Sara felt slightly relieved that she hadn't been the one that found Greg, or saw him before he had been cleaned up. It sounded wrong, but she remembered how bad it had hurt when she saw him lying on the ground, bruised and bloody after his incident with Demetrius James.

Just then a small beeping sound came from her watch, letting her know that it was a new hour, and in this case, a new day.

"It's Halloween," Sara spoke quietly peering at her watch and feeling a bit foolish for forgetting the holiday.

Catherine looked up, and exchanged glances with Catherine before going back to work.

Once her and Catherine had finished with Greg's apartment, having found nothing, they headed back to the lab to open all the cases and get it all set up for everyone to put the puzzle together.

In all honesty, Sara didn't really know what to make of the whole thing. It just seemed so surreal that a person was committing crimes and leaving little puzzle pieces to signify clues. It kind of seemed silly to her in a way.

But they pulled everything out none-the-less and began to go through the Anthony Knight case as it was the only one that neither Sara nor Catherine had any knowledge on. They read through the files and the reports, and started to pull out the clues that were left.

They laid out the photos of the three different clues they had received; the paint-covered walls and furniture, Anthony Knight himself, and the dark green door with the number 1101.

"Ok, so I'm guessing the color white is significant…" Catherine said sarcastically as she looked over the odd crime scene photos.

"Yeah, and then the red splattered over it. Is that blood," Sara asked suddenly as she looked at the pictures of the walls again to find her answer.

"No… I think its paint," Sara answered herself, pushing the autopsy report over to Catherine. "Said he was strangled, so there was no blood loss… and no blood was found at the crime scene.."

Catherine looked at the report then frowned. "Yeah, but Anthony Knight was found covered in black paint, but there was also blood all around it. Or at least, it looks like blood."

"Probably paint as well," Sara replied as she looked at the reports more. "Says here that the cousin, Marley Knight, was also at the scene, and made the call to 911."

"Well, where is she now?"

"Apparently Greg went to see her and… she's mentally ill," Sara finished, staring up Catherine with a confused look. "Greg couldn't get a thing out of her… I wonder how she knew to call 911?"

* * *

Nick, Warrick, and Grissom all gathered around a desk covered in little pumpkins and ghosts, wanting to ask the young woman behind it about Marley Knight. 

"Ma'am, we're here with the Las Vegas Crime Lab, and we were wanting to see Marley Knight."

Darcy bit her bottom lip and looked shyly at the men before her. "Yeah… sure. Um, you guys work with Greg Sanders, right," she asked, peering at their vests.

Nick and Warrick exchanged looks, and rolled their eyes seeing that Greg had already got one woman asking about him.

"He's in surgery right now," Nick answered, noticing the horrified look now plastered on Darcy's face. "There was an accident, but he will probably be ok."

Darcy nodded quickly and fumbled as she spoke. "Um.. Ms. Knight is still in room 228, but psyche will be down any moment, and she'll probably be moved soon…"

"Thank you, Darcy," Grissom replied as he led the other two down the hall. Right before they entered, Grissom's cell phone rang.

"Grissom."

"_Griss, we're back at the lab and looking over Anthony Knight's report, and it says that Marley Knight called 911, but in Greg's report, it sounds like she was in no state to even tie her shoes," _Sara's rushed voice came from the other line.

"Ok, so Knight was found by a call to 911 from his mentally ill cousin, Margaret Brown was found by a friend because they received an odd call from her, and Greg was found when Nick called _him…_" Grissom thought aloud as he began piecing some things together.

"Yeah, but Greg never actually answered," Nick interrupted. "In fact, right when his phone picked up, all I heard was him breathing. I guess its possible he passed out right when he picked it up but…"

"And maybe the guy is helping to make sure the victims are found," Warrick added, catching on to the other's thinking.

Grissom nodded, then addressed Nick and Warrick before addressing Sara again.

"I want you two to talk to Margaret Brown, and Sara, you and Catherine keep doing what you're doing, and we will be there soon, all right," Grissom finished, watching Nick and Warrick move on to their next task.

"_Got it._"

With that, Grissom closed his phone and without any more hesitation, walked through the door to Marley Knight's room. He found her sitting in a chair in the corner or the room, staring at her fingers.

"Marley Knight," Grissom began softly. "I'm Gil Grissom with the Crime Lab. Mind if I talk to you for a moment?"

Marley smiled wildly. "I'm Greg Sanders with the Las Vegas Crime Lab, I'm Greg Sanders…" She chanted, never looking up.

Grissom could now see for himself that she was mentally ill, but he was also realizing something else: She had a good memory. With that encouraging thought, he walked deeper into the room.

"So, you're Greg Sanders," Grissom asked, playing along.

"I'm Greg Sanders," she repeated.

"Ok Greg, could you tell me what happened this morning when someone came into your house and hurt your cousin?"

"No." She answered simply.

Grissom frowned. "You can't? You didn't see anybody come into your house."

"Nope. I heard BANGS and BOOMS and then black." She said happily as she brought her hands up over her eyes.

"What do you mean by black? You couldn't see?"

Marley laughed out loud. "He told me."

"What did he tell you," Grissom continued to pry, seeing that he was getting somewhere.

"See no evil," she said in a sing-song manner, her hands still over her eyes.

"He told you to put you're hands over your eyes."

Marley lowered her hands from her eyes, then smiled at Grissom. "I'm Gil Grissom," she said finally. Giggling then looking down again. Grissom went over this information in his head. He knew she was telling the truth, he would just have to figure out what she was trying to say, and so far he had got that her hands had been over her eyes.

"What about your phone call, Gil," Grissom continued, trying to answer the other question he had pertaining the young woman.

"No phone!" She blurted out and pointed her finger threateningly at Grissom, as though she was telling a dog 'no.'

"Anthony doesn't let you use the phone, does he?"

Marley shook her head clearly, which was very appreciated by Grissom. "And do you remember how you got the phone," Grissom asked, noting that this would be his last question for the woman.

"It was a present," Marley answered, looking very proud.

"A present? Someone gave you the phone?"

Marley smiled wildly. "911, what's your emergency?"

And there it was. Grissom could now conclude that the killer was in fact making sure that the victims were found based on Marley Knight's rather odd, but informative memory.

"You've been wonderful, Gil," Grissom said, standing up.

But Marley shook her head. "Marley is wonderful," she responded, reverting her eyes back to her hands. Grissom took one last look at the girl, then made his way up to fourth floor.

When he got up there, he saw Nick and Warrick walking down a hallway towards him.

"Margaret couldn't tell us much," Warrick said as a greeting to Grissom. "Says she was in her kitchen when something was slipped over her nose and mouth…"

"Chloroform," Nick added. "Which is probably what happened with Greg as well.."

Grissom nodded. "Anything on Greg?"

Nick answered by shaking his head.

"Ok," Grissom said, going over his options. "Let's go back to the lab, and finish this." Grissom knew before he got those words out that his decision would cause problems.

"Shouldn't someone stay here with Greg," Nick asked, looking slightly appalled that Grissom would even consider leaving Greg here alone.

"Brass is on his way. I know you want to stay, I do as well, but it looks like we are dealing with a very smart criminal, and we are already down one investigator. We need everyone on this case, ok? Jim promised to call the moment he gets something."

Nick didn't seem pleased, but knew that Grissom was right. If something really was coming, and was as bad as this guy was making it out to be, then they would need to figure it out and fast.

* * *

**AN:** Alrighty.. um. so you've could have a few of the answers now, if not, you will know everything in the next chapter. I mean everything.. well, no not everything, but you will know what "it" is.Ok, I've finished the next chapter, and I like it a lot more than this one. And because this one took so long, I may post the next one very soon. Depends on a few things and reviews will definitely help. And I promise that when I get 7 reviews, I'll post the next one. But if I don't get 7... Then I'll post it probably tomorrow night or the next day.. Have a good day everyone. 


	6. Tainted Innocence

**AN:** Alrighty, just like I promised.. I think I got a total of 9 reviews and I would have posted this earlier, but I was at church so.. yes, God comes first lol.. Anyways here it is.

**Warning: **Ok, so I've said this before: this story is very new for me, the style and everything, and in this chapter, I've done another thing thats very new for me, and that's romance. Its not a certain ship, its an OC type thing, and I'm sure you can guess who.. I don't think its too bad... just kind of cute.. sorry if its not your thing.

**I'm nervous!! **- Because this will wrap up what it is but you will see at the end that this is not the end of the story.. i don't know how much more there will be, but we'll see as we go.

But anyways.. read and review my loves.

* * *

"Have you got anything else," Warrick asked as he joined the other CSI's. They were all together now, with the exception of Greg, standing around an evidence table in the lab. 

"Well," Catherine began, "we're thinking the number 1101 is either a date or a time.."

"Or both," Sara interrupted.

"Which means if it's a date, then tomorrow, the first of November, is when it will happen," Nick added.

"Ok, well let's assume it's a date then," Grissom replied, using it as a worse case scenario. "We have under 24 hours before something could happen." A quick silence filled the room at this slap in the face by reality.

"Which leaves the color white and red splatters and Knight..," Nick continued.

"Don't forget the phrases," Warrick added.

"Well, we think the phrases are kind of self-explanatory. Especially Greg's and Margaret Brown's. Greg's said _it will hit close to home, _and because he's a CSI, it hits close to home for us…" Catherine said.

"But also probably means it will happen here in Vegas.." Warrick spoke up, getting a nod from Catherine.

"And Margaret Brown's said _the nation will mourn for weeks. _She a news reporter and will, or would be reporting on it.." Sara added.

"But it also gives us an idea of the impact _it _is supposed to leave," Grissom said darkly. "It takes something huge to make the _nation _mourn for weeks…"

"Ok," Nick began. "What about Knight's? _It's delightfully unfair… _I mean, I'm sure it has something to do with his wrap sheet, but if that's the case, then him being the only one that died isn't very unfair…"

"Maybe it's his crimes themselves," Warrick added, looking over Anthony Knight's records. "Suspected for rape three times, but was never convicted due to lack of evidence. Which, if he did do it, it would be unfair to his victims."

"Sounds right, but what about the color white," Sara asked, which was something that was on everybody's mind as it was one of the most bazaar parts of the case.

"Innocence," Grissom answered quietly as it hit him. White had always been a color of innocence, dating all the way back to the Bible and Jesus.

Everyone else seemed to catch on now. "And the red splatters.." Nick began with wide eyes..

"Tainted innocence…" As Catherine said this, shock erupted in her eyes. "Grissom, what if it has something to do with kids? It is Halloween."

Panic levels seemed to rise at this possibility. And the worse part was, it made sense. Children had always been thought of as the epitome of innocence, and if something happened to them, it would be extremely unfair.

"Yeah.. Yeah but it wouldn't happen tonight.. Its suppose to happen tomorrow.." Warrick said suddenly, trying to calm everyone down.

"If that's what 1101 really means.." Sara retorted, dubbing that theory.

"And if something happened to a bunch of children, that would make the nation mourn for weeks…" Nick added is a shaky voice.

"OK, ok," Grissom said in a louder voice than he had been using so far. "Panicking won't solve anything. Right now, an attack on children does sound very possible, but we still have more clues.. There was a snake, and I don't think we ever really accounted for Anthony Knight himself.. Though he may have just had the puzzle piece on him so we'd look into his background…"

Everyone around him nodded.

"Let's not lose focus now… we have a puzzle to put together."

* * *

Greg felt extremely warm. Where ever he was, it was very comfortable and clean, and he was liking it very much. 

His body felt numb, which wasn't a bad thing as far as he was concerned, but it was his memory, or lack there of, that was making him feel uneasy. He couldn't remember anything. In fact, thinking itself was a difficult task at the time.

However, as the minutes passed, he seemed to be coming more aware of his surroundings and all of his senses were coming back one by one. He could hear some beeping sounds and distant people walking around and talking to each other. He could taste a thick, sour taste in his mouth that he wished would go away. And then he could feel a warm object on his hand.

He now decided that finding out what that pleasant warmth on his hand was worth opening his eyes. He slowly slipped one eye open, and then the other. At first, everything was a blur, though he could make out someone sitting by him. It was definitely a woman, a seemingly beautiful woman. And as his vision began to clear, and he saw that beautiful smile, he knew exactly who it was.

And when she saw his eyes open, her hand retreated from his, and he saw her cheeks turn a slight shade of pink. "You know, when I said I hope to see around sometime, I didn't mean like this…"

Greg broke out into an embarrassed smile. It didn't take him long to realize he was in the hospital, though why he was there was still a mystery to him.

"What.. What happened," Greg asked calmly, still feeling very groggy, but also safe being with Darcy.

"Well, you're friend was here earlier… Captain Brass, I believe it was… He couldn't stay though, just wanted to make sure you were ok. And you are," she added quickly. "You were stabbed in the side," she continued, now in a much softer tone.

"I don't know much else than that, but I uh.." she also seemed embarrassed now. "I thought you could use some company."

Greg was taken slightly shocked at the fact that he was stabbed, because he didn't remember that part at all. However, he did remember getting out of the shower and having something, probably chloroform placed over his nose and mouth. But, it didn't matter right now because he was fine and better yet, Darcy was here with him on her own accord.

"Well, I really appreciate that, Darcy," he replied, smiling his signature smile, earning another shy grin from her. He didn't know his exact feelings for her, but he couldn't shake the familiar feeling of a teenage boy with a crush.

After a moment of smiling and looking away, Darcy slowly stood up and spoke. "Well, I'm going to call the Doctor in, and let him tell you what's going on.. He probably knows better than me…"

She started to walk away, but Greg couldn't let her go that easily. "Wait, Darcy… Um.. Thanks, and you can… come back.. You know, if you want…" Greg fumbled, trying not to sound too needy or anything. He just liked her company.

Darcy's smile grew wider than he had ever seen it. "I think I just may.. If you want me to that is.. I uh.. I'm not on shift anymore… and don't really have nothing to do, you know.."

"Then I'll see you soon," Greg asked, staring at this beautiful woman in the doorway of his hospital room.

"Yeah," she said finally with her hands in her back pockets. "Yeah, you will."

With that, she turned around and left, but Greg caught the gigantic smile on her face before she turned away completely, and knew that his own smile matched hers.

Minutes later, a man in a white coat came in and told him that everything had gone well with the surgery and that he may be released as early as the same night. That did mean a pretty good while seeing as how it was only three in the morning, but it was better than staying over night. The Doctor also said that he would be calling Grissom to inform him that Greg was awake, which meant that one of the CSI's would probably be there soon.

And sure enough, about an hour an a half later, Nick came around the corner and into the room, and very relieved look plastered on his face.

"Greg! Man, I'm glad to see you…" He said happily as he took the seat that Darcy had been sitting in earlier.

"Me too..," Greg responded. He was actually happy that Nick had come in now and not earlier because he had had time to wake up and become more coherent. "So, you gotta tell me, what's going on with the case. And.. What happened to me?"

That's when it seemed to dawn on Nick that Greg had no idea what was going on with the case and all of the sudden twists and turns it had made. Nick took a deep breath.

"A _lot _has happened, G. And our single case suddenly turned into a triple, yourself included, though Anthony Knight was the only one that was killed…" Greg stared in disbelief at this new information.. And luckily, Nick continued on his own because Greg had no idea what to say.

"Its now Anthony Knight, you, and Margaret Brown…"

"The reporter," Greg asked, interrupting Nick's explanation. But Nick simply nodded and then continued.

"Yeah, and you were the only one who didn't get an elaborate puzzle piece display, but we think that's because he ran out of time when I called you." None of this made a whole lot of sense to Greg, but he kept quiet none the less.

"Yeah, you know about Knight's white apartment, and Brown had a huge cut-out in her kitchen, but you only had a knife in your side with a note on it."

Greg frowned. "A note? What did it say?"

"It said, _It's coming. It will hit close to home. _And we're pretty sure that means that it will happen in Vegas. Then Margaret Brown's said that _the nation will mourn for weeks…._ and we're starting to think that color white is referring to children and that the number 1101 means November 1.."

"Tomorrow," Greg said, catching on. Nick nodded again.

"But we're still not sure if we addressed the puzzle piece on Anthony Knight and we can't figure out why the snake in Margaret's house was a clue."

"Whoa, wait. There was a snake in the reporter lady's house? I've seen that lady and she doesn't seem like the snake type."

"Well, she is.. We interviewed her, and it was her snake. It's dead now, though. She was pretty broken up."

Just then, Greg saw Darcy walk by his room and glance inside quickly before walking away.

"Alright, well thanks for filling me in, but you should probably go back and try to figure everything out.. "

Nick nodded again and stood up.

"The doc said I may be out later tonight.." Greg continued.

"Good. Just let me know and I'll pick you up. Get better, G."

"Thanks, and keep me updated on the case, ok?"

Nick nodded, then left. Greg figured Darcy would be in soon, but he didn't want to look like he was expecting her, so he turned on the tv and started watching. Darcy joined him about an hour later and they watched tv together for hours and talked about each other's lives. Greg found himself liking her even more as every second went by.

It wasn't until after a nurse brought in Greg's dinner did they realize how long they had been sitting and talking together. But, Darcy went down to the cafeteria and got some food for herself and ate with Greg. He was so thrilled that he was finally meeting someone that he generally like and seemed to like him back, though the circumstances were a bit odd.

And, after dinner, the Doctor came in and told Greg that after he was checked out, there was a good chance he would be discharged.

"I'll go get you some scrubs," Darcy said, leaving the doctor alone with Greg so he could be checked out.

It didn't take very long for the doctor to check him over and tell him what he could and could not do, before he signed the papers left. Leaving Greg alone, and still wearing his hospital gown. He figured Darcy was taking some extra time to ensure that the doctor would have enough time to finish with him, so he turned back to the tv, which was now displaying the news.

"_We got an update on Margaret, and we are happy to report that she is back at home, resting. And her case is actually apart of a much larger one that police are keeping under wraps right now, but we'll keep you updated as information comes in."_

"_Thanks Brock. Glad to hear Margaret's doing good. In other news, we all know what tonight is, and while we have the traditional trick-or-treating going on, one local school has done something a little different. Let's take a look. Stacy?"_

The screen changed from the news room, to a woman dressed as a witch holding a microphone. She was outside somewhere, and in the background, was what looked like some sort of carnival.

"_Yes Ann, we are out here on Viper Run where a small Halloween Carnival is taking place. The spooky fun is being put on by Wilkes Middle School, home of the Fighting Knights, so that the children could have fun, but also be safe under the watchful eyes of many parents and teachers. Right here we have Mark Stater…"_

But Greg zoned out at this point as reality hit him like a ton of bricks. _Viper Run…. Fighting Knights.. Children… _It all made sense! The snake, the color white, 1101, hitting close to home…. All of it.

Greg almost jumped off his bed when he heard someone enter the room, and saw Darcy jump back, blue scrubs in her hands.

"I.. I need a phone.." Greg said as calmly as he could, though his thoughts were racing a mile-a-minute. Darcy seemed a little confused, but she walked over to the bedside and picked up the phone and hit a couple numbers.

"Here.. Just dial the number.." she said, looking expectantly at Greg.

"Thanks," he said quickly before dialing the first number that came to mind.

"_Sidle."_

"Sara!" Greg said suddenly, wondering why he ended up calling Sara.

"_Greg? Is that you?_" She sounded shocked but Greg had no time for that.

"Sara, is Grissom with you? Are you with everyone else?"

"_Yeah, Greg.. We're all here. What's going on? Are you ok?"_

"No. I mean yes, I'm fine. I've been discharged but.. But I think I figured it out, Sar. I think I did…" He knew he must have sounded like a crazy person, but this was all very important.

"_What? What did you figure out? Are you sure you're ok?_" She now sounded worried, which was only making Greg feel worse for not getting to the point.

"Yes! Its.. it's a school Wilkes Middle School! Sara, it all makes sense. The school is on _Viper Run, _like a snake! And the school is home of the _Fighting Knights…_ Sara.. All of it fits. White.. Children.. Mourning for weeks… Sara…"

"_No, no.. Greg I see what you're saying.. That's.. how did you figure it out?" _

"It was on the news.. There's some carnival. But I don't think it will happen tonight.. We just have to do something for tomorrow.."

"_Yeah, yeah ok. That's.. that's wonderful Greg.. Um.. Nick's on his way, ok?"_

"Yeah,_" _Greg replied before putting the phone down. He turned around and saw Darcy still standing where she was last, staring at Greg.

"I.. I'm sorry.. it's a big case."

"No.. Greg don't be sorry. You figured out the case.." she replied with her big smile.

"No, I figured out a part of it.. But it doesn't matter.. Look, I want to see you again.." He knew that his time in the hospital, and therefore his easy way of seeing Darcy was running out, and he didn't want to lose her.

"I want to see you too, Greg," she said, looking shyly into his eyes.

Greg smiled. Maybe he would have to get stabbed more often…

* * *

**AN:** And there **it **is, folks. I hope it was worth it. Of course, we still have to go save the chitlins, which seems like it should be a story in itself... but either way, I'm going for it and I hope you guys will go along for the ride. 


	7. Calm Before the Storm

**AN: **I'll try to keep it short this time: Um first off, you really need to read the ending note, as there is some big news in it. Secondly, I really like this chapter basically because the rush feeling is over - we know what it is. And its.. Well.. The title of the chapter explains it all. And last.. I want to apologize for the overall story, because I don't feel like it was very good. I'm still learning..

**Important:** The next chapter will not be a part of the story, but will be something you will all need/hopefully want to read. You'll better understand this when you read the end note.

**Warning: **Not properly beta'd. Sorry.. It was kind of half-done.. Well.. Hard to explain.. But I'm terribly sorry for any mistakes, but do know, I tried. Also.. I tried to be as realistic as I could without being boring. I may have stretched a few things… did a few things that normally wouldn't happen, but hey… tv and movies do it all the time!! Just bare with me if you can..

So much for keeping it short...

Ok, go read!

* * *

Nick couldn't be more relieved at this very moment, which was odd considering he was in a hospital. It seemed like only minutes ago he was watching Greg being pushed through the emergency room doors with a knife sticking out his side, and now he was able to be picked up. Of course, it had been just over 24 hours since Greg had been emitted, so the fact that he was already well enough to leave made Nick feel so thankful that his friend was alive and well. It really could have ended up so much worse. 

As Nick rounded the corner, he noticed that the cute receptionist had been replaced by a large, rather hairy man. And when he could see into Greg's room, he saw her sitting on Greg's bed, while Greg occupied the chair beside it. He stopped just before he was in the doorway to watch Greg and this girl.

As Nick watched the two of them laugh and saw their smiles, he couldn't help not to smile himself. He couldn't really say that he had ever seen Greg put his charms on a girl, but he had to give it to the guy, Greg was quite the charmer. After he saw them exchange what looked like cards with numbers on them, Nick decided it was time to enter.

The young woman saw him first and immediately stopped talking and got off Greg's bed. At this, Greg also turned in his chair and winced at the obvious pain in his side, but greeted Nick with a large smile none the less.

"Hey man," Nick greeted Greg as he walked further into the room. "Didn't I see you this morning," he asked politely turning to the receptionist who's name he couldn't remember.

"Yeah, I think so," she answered as she got closer to Nick and offered him her hand. "I'm Darcy."

Nick reached out and grabbed her hand and shook it. "Oh, that's right." He then turned his attention to Greg. "You 'bout ready to hit it, G?"

"Oh yeah," he answered, placing his hands on the arms or the chair and painfully pushed himself up with Nick's help.

"He'll be sore for a little while and will need to come in tomorrow night and get checked out, but otherwise, he just needs to take it easy and make sure the wound is properly dressed," Darcy said to Nick. He laughed to himself, seeing that Darcy apparently knew Greg well enough to instruct someone else of what Greg was supposed to be doing.

"Thanks," Nick replied, cutting his eyes at Greg. "We'll make sure he follows orders." The statement made Greg roll his eyes playfully.

"I'm sure you will. Well, I leave you two alone and I'll see you later," she asked Greg.

"Yep. Thanks Darc," he answered and watched her leave with a giant grin on his face. Nick just looked at him with a smirk on his face.

"What," Greg asked defensively.

"Oh, nothing," Nick retorted, the smirk still very much present on his face. "She's cute."

"Oh… yeah. She stayed with me the whole day," Greg replied, his eyes on the door where she had just been.

Then something dawned on Nick. "Whoa.. Wait a second," he began in a higher-pitched tone that was still playful. "You got rid of me for her, didn't you?"

Greg immediately snapped out of his lala-land and seemed appalled. "What? No. No I didn't…"

"Yes, yes you did. I saw her walk by earlier today while I was here, and it was suddenly _'Oh Nick, you should go try to figure out the case',_" Nick said in a mock-version of Greg's voice. "B.S., man. You just wanted to talk to miss cutesy pants out there."

"No…" Greg responded, but he knew he had been busted. It wasn't that he was wanting to get rid of Nick earlier because he really appreciated Nick coming to visit him, but he was just so excited about this new girl. "Sorry.. I just.. I didn't mean.."

"Nah, it's fine, G," Nick interrupted, laughing. "Like I said, she's cute. And its hard to get a good girl with the job we have. I don't blame you…"

"Yeah.. Yeah thanks." Greg said, still feeling guilty.

"So, you ready to go now," Nick asked again, looking over Greg who was now leaning against a wall. "Oh, and nice scrubs G. You look like a proficient little doctor-boy."

"Hey, little doctor-boys get all the girls…" Greg replied jokingly.

"Yeah, and all the money." Nick retorted and he and Greg walked out the room and through the white hallways, Nick staying close to Greg in case he needed some support. But, despite Greg slowing down towards the end, he managed to make it all the way out the hospital.

"Ah man," Nick began as he cranked his car. "You should have seen Sara when you called. She about flipped right out of her seat."

"Why," Greg asked, not really understanding why Sara would be so surprised to hear him.

"Think about it Greg. She hadn't seen or heard from you at all, only saw the blood in your apartment. And you know Sara, she's such a worrier and stubborn to boot. Grissom had to tell her a couple times that you were ok and that we all needed to work on the case. And then you end up figuring out the last clues anyway."

Greg felt kind of bad now. He hadn't thought of the whole situation from anyone else's point of view, but to him, he had always been fine.

"Sounds a lot worse when you say it like that. And, it was just luck that I saw that news broadcast. Heck, it may just be a coincidence anyway."

"Maybe, but like you said, everything fits. All of it. And this close to Halloween.. Its perfect. I just can't imagine anyone going after a bunch of children for any reason."

"Yeah," Greg responded as the Vegas lights washed over his face and lit up the night sky. "The world can be crazy… So what do we do now?"

"Well," Nick took a deep breath. "From what I heard before I left, they are notifying the police department as well as the school officials. That's all I know really. Now, on to other pressing matters. If you want to go home right now, you can. But if I go back to that lab without you, I think Catherine and Sara will have my hide. But no pressure."

"No, that's fine. I want to see them and see what's going on anyway."

Nick nodded and they were silent for the rest of the trip. When they pulled into the lab parking lot, Nick quickly got out and went around to Greg's side to offer help as needed. Which turned out to be useful as the Denali was slightly high off the ground and Greg's legs about gave out. But after a moment, he was fine.

As they walked slowly through the hallways, a couple heads turned to see Greg who they knew had been hurt. Greg either didn't pay them any attention or otherwise blew them kisses, knowing that it was one of the most effective ways to turn their pity into something, anything else. Greg had never been one for pity.

As they neared Grissom's office, their supervisor's voice could be heard in a serious tone. "Ok, then what are our options?" Grissom asked, exhaustion clear in his voice.

When Nick and Greg entered the room, all heads turned to see them. After a short moment of silence, both Sara and Catherine came over to him. Sara gently put her arms around his neck and hugged him while Catherine was looking him over and Greg could see the motherly look in her eyes and knew what was coming.

"You look kind of pale," she said suddenly.

"No I don't," Greg said simply with a grin then turned to Grissom who was also looking him over. "What's going on now?"

"Glad to see you're ok, Greg. And we were just discussing that. Why don't you have a seat," Grissom answered.

Greg agreed that was a good idea and slowly made his way over to the couch where Warrick was also sitting. When he sat down, Warrick grabbed Greg's shoulder lightly and nodded, which Greg knew was his version of saying "Glad you're ok." Greg smiled then turned back to Grissom.

"Basically right now, they aren't prepared to close the school down on such short notice and they're saying that it's all probably a coincidence, so we're discussing other options," Warrick said quickly to Nick and Greg so that they could continue.

"Our best bet right now is to put some guys around the school, some undercover maybe, others in their uniforms. Maybe it will scare the guy off if he realizes that you all put the puzzle together," Brass suggested, mainly addressing Grissom.

"Yeah, but that wouldn't do much for the kids either, I mean, a bunch of cops standing around the school… they're bound to know something's up. And I don't think its worth scaring the kids," Catherine offered, her motherly morals shining through.

"She's got a point," Nick added. "It's a middle school… they would notice."

"But Brass is also right," Sara spoke up. "If our perp sees some uniforms, maybe he'll back off. I'd rather scare the kids if it means nothing will happen."

Silence fell over the room as they all thought this over. Suddenly, a simple idea occurred to Greg.

"Well, what if you gave them a reason for being there. I mean, it may not convince everyone, but it would be better than nothing. And you would have most of the cops undercover, right?"

No one said anything at first, but looked at him thoughtfully.

"What do you mean by 'give them a reason'," Grissom asked, eyeing Greg curiously.

"Well.. it's a school… I mean, they have people come in and talk about their professions and stuff all the time, right? So, you have some officers in some classrooms, and then of course the guys undercover can watch other major places around the school and look completely normal…"

"You mean.. like a career day," Warrick asked, sounding slightly impressed.

"Yeah.. And maybe some of us can go in the science classrooms.. We're all about science and are better prepared to handle problems than the students or teachers… Besides, a police officer in a science classroom?" Greg finished, ending his thoughts in a sarcastic manor pointed at Brass.

"He's got a point Griss. Would something like that be possible Brass," Catherine asked.

Brass thought about it for a moment. "It should be. The school is accepting protection just in case something goes down. We would just have to notify the school board and make sure the principle and staff are notified. My guys will do as their told and probably wouldn't mind answering questions. As far as you CSI's are concerned, that's your deal Grissom. And Ecklie's too. They are all technically trained to handle these situations and it wouldn't hurt…"

Everyone's eyes were now on Grissom, though he wasn't looking at any of them. "Ok.." he said finally. "I'll have to run it by Ecklie, but it shouldn't be a problem. Though, I think a few of us should stay behind rather than all of us being in the school."

"I agree," Sara said. "It wouldn't be smart to have everyone in one area, especially if this whole thing falls through and _it _happens somewhere else…"

"Well, we'll have some people outside as well. Some of you can stay there," Brass offered, then took a deep breath before talking again. "Now, do we have any suspects at all?"

"Well that's the thing," Warrick said from the couch. "There was _nothing_ at the scenes. At all. So, we thought to run background on the three victims, see if there's anyone in common, but honestly, that's almost pointless."

"Because both Greg and Margaret Brown would be easy targets. It's not hard to find a CSI and Brown is always on the tv… And with Greg's trial not too long ago… All he would have to do is look them up on the internet and wait until the perfect time," Sara continued.

"No witnesses or cameras… And there was no sign of forced entry on any of the victim's houses. He probably just got lucky not having to break in or anything, but otherwise, he knew what he was doing" Nick added.

Greg sat on the couch, letting them all go over all the details and feeling a little awkward because he was apart of these "victims" they were referring to. And also the fact that they were right, he allowed easy access for the guy to come right in and attack him.

"However," Warrick interrupted. "We figured Anthony Knight may have something because he seemed to be the only one that got hand chosen due to past records and also got the most elaborate display. And he apparently got acquainted with a Walker Bently, who has done time for rape of a minor, which seemed like a good choice. The only thing is he was 18 at the time and the girl was 16. But that's the only guy that could fit for a motive."

"So what about him," Brass asked.

"Barbados," Catherine answered simply. "Has apparently been living there for the past year."

"Could have gotten in under the radar," Nick offered, though they all knew it was unlikely. They just wanted so badly to have some sort of an idea on this guy.

"Yeah, which is why we're watching him and we'll also alert everyone to look out for him, but that's the best we have."

"Alright," Grissom spoke up. "I want everyone to go home, get some sleep, and be back here at six. School starts just after eight. That'll give us a couple hours to prepare."

They all nodded and got themselves ready to go. Most of them cleared out of the small office, leaving Grissom, Nick, and Greg. Before Nick and Greg could follow the others out, Grissom began to talk.

"Greg, may I have a word?"

And here it was. Greg was pretty sure he knew what this was going to be about. He looked back at Nick who quickly said he'd be in the locker room, and Greg took a seat in front of Grissom's desk.

"I just wanted to say you did a good job with the case and all."

Greg chuckled. "I didn't really do anything, just watched tv. Besides, I made myself an easy target."

"Still Greg.. You've been proving yourself more capable of being a CSI than I ever thought possible, and I just… I just thought I should tell you that."

Greg was a bit stunned at this point. Grissom didn't usually come out and say sentimental things like this to most people, so this was really quite the honor. And, a shock at the same time.

"I.. well thank you Grissom," Greg finally managed to get out after searching desperately for anything to answer Grissom with. "Though, I bet you only said that because I could have died…" Greg added, unable to take this very unusual feeling between Grissom and himself.

Grissom just looked Greg over for a moment, as if he was, again, studying him. And then a small grin flashed. "You're probably right. Now, I'm sure you realize you won't be a huge part of the plan tomorrow?"

Greg now decided to stand, and as he did, he even managed to stifle the cringe that threatened to spread across his face. "We'll see," Greg responded simply before turning to exit Grissom's office. Before he was completely out of the room, he turned around and saw Grissom sitting there, as if waiting for Greg to say something else.

"It's kind of weird, you know," Greg began, one hand holing onto the wall. "All this buildup and everything could happen tomorrow… And yet, this is the calmest I've felt in days."

"Calm before the storm, Greg," Grissom replied, sounding very much like the Dumbledore of Harry Potter. Or maybe even like Yoda. Greg shrugged.

"Night, Grissom."

Those words alone didn't really have much meaning, but Greg knew otherwise. With Grissom, some of the most simple things had the most importance. And lucky for Greg, he was the same in that respect and therefore found it easy to communicate with Grissom.

"Goodnight, Greg."

* * *

**AN: **Ok, so the big news is that this story will be a 2-parter. For two reasons really. **1 - **Because it feels to me like two separate stories. That may not make a lot of sense to you guys, but you also don't know exactly where I'm going with it (though you should basically know the gist.) And 

**2 - **Because I've made the decision that I'm not very good at the whole mystery thing, and now that the mystery part is basically over, the next part will be more actiony and stuff, which I feel I'm much better at.

So, it only seems natural to make it a two parter, as the feel will be different.


End file.
